


Bloom

by HydrangeaPartridge



Series: Egyptian AU [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian AU, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Prompt Fill, Reibert Week 2015, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 21:11:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4537530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HydrangeaPartridge/pseuds/HydrangeaPartridge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt fills for Reibert week 2015.</p>
<p>Focuses on Reiner and Bertholdt in my Egyptian AU : <em>'Through Horus Eyes'</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fills for Reibert week 2015. The prompts were:
> 
> 1: Childhood  
> 2 :Inseparable  
> 3: Modern Au  
> 4: Crossover  
> 5: Marks  
> 6: Forget Me Not  
> 7: Home 
> 
> I didn't do 3 and 4 because this work is related to my [JeanMarco Egyptian AU](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2845010/chapters/6380867) . I think it is readable and understandable without knowing about the main story's events, but some partS make more sense and have a deeper meaning if You know the setting so check it out if you feel like it :).

**Childhood**

As a child, Bertholdt was already subdued. Despite his impressive heigh, often owning him to be considered older than he was, he went unnoticed, which was fine in his opinion. Even his parents didn't take care of him much, too occupied and tired from their slave work. It was usual, but it still made him cry at night sometimes.   
The Great Wife often looked after him, alongside other slave children. She was kind, but he was forever second, her attention and affection always inexorably stronger for the younger ashen blond kid who always cried and kept sucking on his thumb to calm his upset sobs. It was understandable, he was her blood, he was the heir, Bertholdt should have been glad to be allowed to play with him at all.   
The perfect example of what he wanted his parents to be was rubbed into his face every day. But he didn't complain, it wasn't his parent's fault. That's what he tried to convince himself of when his genitors gradually became strangers, blood having no more meaning.   
Although surrounded by other nice children and never physically lacking anything, whether food or drinks, in his heart, something was missing.

Reiner may have been stronger than all his older brothers, his built making his mother proud and his father delighted, he always felt he was the one too many son. It probably had to do with how his father kept saying they had too many mouths to feed compared to how small their fields were, or with how his mother wished her last child would have been a girl instead of yet another boy. The young Reiner never felt like he was lacking anything and was content with his life. They weren't rich but his family was managing.   
But after one cold and hard winter, when they had almost nothing to eat it occurred to him that if he stayed, with his large stature and strong appetite, it would probably be too much of a burden for a family where he wasn't indispensable. So one night, he left. With no last words, no warning and no belongings, he left, believing he wouldn't be missed and he wouldn't miss them either. What was family beside blood after all ?   
He walked for days until he arrived in Thebes, and on impulse, he gave his life to Pharaoh, hoping this new start would bring him more comfort and wouldn't burden anyone.   
And deep inside, he wished it would also fix the feeling of emptiness in his heart. He wished he could found the missing part.

**Inseparable**

He found it in a garden, the missing part. More like he found _him_. 

Bertholdt didn't understand how it clicked so quickly between Reiner and him. It took only one sunny afternoon, a shared pomegranate and some shameless teasing from Reiner to make them attached at the hip. They were both young, they were both lonely, but he wanted to believe it wasn't by default that they chose each other. Bertholdt knew he had a preference for boys, and it was embarrassed and sweaty that he confessed to Reiner that this realization came when he crushed on the elegant walk and refined face of a prince who had been spoiled by puberty. Although he added that now he much preferred large shoulders and strong muscled thighs to long necks and narrow hips. Reiner greeted the news with a booming laugh before sweeping Bertholdt off his feet with a not so gentle but intense and passionate kiss.  
Soon, despite some dirty looks and a few whispered insults, they were sharing a wood plank they called a bed in the slave quarters, unable to be away from each other for a whole night anymore. It happened the night after they became one, after they had been fooling around in the haystacks of the stables, sharing giggles, heavy breaths and pleasured moans of each other's names.   
Despite the small skimpy place they had to share, despite the lack of intimacy, and despite Bertholdt's weird sleeping positions, they never disturbed each other's sleep. After all, it was far more comfortable to be whole than to be alone.

**Marks**

When Reiner started working in the quarries, on his back the red trails of love left by Bertholdt's nail started mixing with the angry whip blows. This way, hiding their intense times together became easier, but they didn't see it as an advantage, far from it.  
Bertholdt became more careful with his touches, afraid to reopen deep wounds and to turn his lover into a bleeding mess. He got nervous. Nervous he would tire Reiner too much; and he was even surprised the blond had enough energy to ask for action.  
But little did he know that it was also Reiner's way to let out the pressure and the strain this new work put on his back, by losing himself in his lover's comforting and familiar warmth and scent. 

However, Reiner could see Bertholdt becoming more hesitating, not letting himself get lost in the two of them, his touches too controlled, too careful. It pained him to make his Bertl worry so much for him and to be unable to kiss away his anxiety when they were finally together. _'It was work and he had to do it'_ , he kept repeating, reassuring his other half that he wasn't exhausting himself to death. As a silent answer to those words, the taller brunette took it upon himself to be strong for the both of them, sometimes almost robbing Reiner of his pride and of his esteemed manliness. Those were hard times, and they left scars, but thankfull, it didn't last forever.

On the day that ended both their suffering, when Reiner was reassigned to the gardens, Bertholdt let himself get carried away, lost in relief, and unwillingly ended up giving Reiner a dark hickey. The blond moaned but his lover cringed at the sight of the bruise he just created disappearing in the sea of other slowly fading marks on Reiner's chest. A tear was shed and Reiner cupped his lover's face in his large protecting hands. “Now you'll be the only one I'll ever allow to mark me” He promised in a breathy whispered and Bertoldt finally smiled.

**Forget me not**

Seeing Reiner work in the gardens again calmed Bertholdt's heart and mind. He was happier, more relaxed and filled with fond nostalgia. During his free time, he liked to sneak out of the kitchens and watch Reiner work on the flowers from underneath the shade of a palm tree on the other side of a small pound. It reminded him of their first meeting, when he was still a shy and blushy teenager. It felt like thousands of years had passed since then. They fell for each other hard, but their shared flame kept burning just as intensely as when they met. Fuelled by love, they believed it could burn forever.  
He looked down to the cheap worthless band of metal around his ring finger and smiled to himself. Reiner wore its twin, never removing it, and to them, the crooked rusting metal was a priceless treasure; a proof of their undying love for each other.   
When he looked up, he was presented with a bouquet of small delicate blue flowers with cute yellow centre and met with a proud radiant smile. He delicately took the flowers, smiling back to Reiner before bringing them closer to his nose, sighing contently at their soft fragrance. The petals' smell wasn't strong in the daytime, but during the night, when they would go to sleep together, the flowers would deliver their full perfume from underneath their bed, lulling them to sleep.

_Forget me nots._

Flowers that symbolized true and faithful love as well as memories, given in hopes the receiver would never forget the giver. 

“Happy anniversary Bertl” Reiner whispered before leaning down to capture his lover's lips in a tender kiss. 

But it didn't mean the giver would ever forget the receiver either. 

**Home**

To Reiner and Bertholdt, home was never a place. Home wasn't even a concept they believed in before they met, but merely what you called a well organised cemented pile of rocks. However gradually, with Reiner by his side, Pharaoh's palace became home for Bertholdt, which felt weird for him who had lived between those walls for his whole life without seeing it that way.   
Every belongings or spaces they shared became home: their bed, their secret hidden corner in the gardens, their rings... But all these places and objects were just memories keepers and stopped being so symbolic if the other was away, being less a nice reminder than a sweet torture to see, creating longing in their fate-linked hearts.   
So home became even more abstract; each other's smile, hands, lips... The feeling of safety and warmth of a cosy house coming through kisses, words and touches. Close, in each other's arms, joined, was where they belonged, and in the late hours of the night, in front of a river lit by countless flames, holding hands, they both wished they could be together forever. 

Whatever the place, whatever the world even, together, they were home.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and feedback are always appreciated (and by that I mean that they make me squeal in delight and roll onto the floor XD)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. You can find me on tumblr [here](http://hydrangeapartridge.tumblr.com/) if you want ^^


End file.
